Arthropleura

Remnants of the spinal skeleton of Arthropleura armata in the Senckenberg Museum in Frankfurt am Main.

• North America
• Europe

• Arthropleura armata Jordan & Meyer 1854
• Arthropleura mammata ( Salter 1863)
• Arthropleura britannica Andrée 1910
• Arthropleura moyseyi Calman 1914
• Arthropleura maillieuxi Pruvost 1930
• Arthropleura cristata Richardson 1959

Arthropleura is a genus of extinct arthropods fully terrestrial from the Upper Carboniferous ( Pennsylvanian - 318-299 million years ago) and the Lower Permian ( Cisuralium - 299-270 million years ago) of North America and Europe. The members of this genus reached a length of up to 2.5 meters, being the largest ever living arthropods. Due to their size, they were competing with the contemporary terrestrial vertebrates ( Tetrapoda ). Their closest living relatives are probably the millipedes ( Myriapoda ).

Construction

The exoskeleton consisted of about 32 body segments, each with a pair of legs. The major body segments were 48 inches wide. The body size is probably due to the high oxygen content of 35% and the high humidity in the fern forests of the Carboniferous, which helped in many arthropods with an almost completely passive transport of air over tracheae inside the body, a gigantism.

Way of life

About the ecology of Arthropleura barely statements can be made, especially as the head underside in addition to the masticatory apparatus is still completely unknown. The reason for this probably lies in the fact that it is almost all body fossils of Arthropleura not about to remains of dead animals but to shed skin, called exuviae, is. Presumably, this is also one of the reasons that as yet no specimens of Arthropleura were found along with fossil überliefertem stomach contents. Stomach contents could be relatively sure give information about whether Arthropleura was a herbivore or a robber, what is yet unclear.

Occurrence

Fossils of Arthropleura occur in the deposits oberkarbonischer and unterpermischer coal swamps. There you have it found both in Europe (UK, France, Germany, Poland, Czech Republic) and North America (Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Nova Scotia ). The type Arthropleura cristata originates from the famous fossil sites in the Mazon Creek in Illinois. The relatively small type species Arthropleura armata, whose remains were found in the Saar -Nahe Basin, has a length of only one meter. Another site on German soil is located in Chemnitz and in Manebach in Ilmenau in the Thuringian Forest.

Trivia

Arthropleura played among others in the British television series Prehistoric Park - a role return of prehistoric monsters - extinction was yesterday and Primeval. The representation in both series, especially in Primeval corresponds only partially solid scientific evidence and includes purely speculative aspects and will serve primarily the entertainment of spectators.